Connected
by Melskim
Summary: Reflects on Eve perspective on her relationship with her mother and the others, and her way of dealing with her death.  Slightly X/A.


Connected 

By Melskim

Disclaimer: I don't own them.

A/N: This story is just a part of an idea a had a long time ago. Reflects on Eve perspective on her relationship with her mother and the others, and her way of dealing with her death. Slightly X/A.

Thanks to my lovely girl for beta it and make it readable.

The little room I took wasn't the best in the place. It wasn't the best tavern in the village either. Just a bed, table, a chair and the thick smell of bad food. The tavern keeper had said they didn't even have warm water for a bath and the locals welcome me with wary looks when I took it as it was clear I could afford something better. But – but truth was… this was where my mother stayed the last time she and Gabrielle were in Greece._ I had to take it._

The night was so dark, so cold, the smell of sea and rotten fish from the port… As my nostrils became accustomed, I silently wondered how _she_ could liked these smells. It wasn't the first time I wondered something about her... I remember reading (when I used to sneak at night to read Gabrielle's scrolls) that mother had grown in a town like this one. I already knew that. But what I didn't know, what _she_ never told me, was that she and her brother used to come to this port for supplies and they would spend a couple of days here every month. Alone, by themselves. Where they could do and be what they were. Reason enough for her to come here, to became a pirate, to be free... Maybe she did not long after he'd passed away.

_Everything is connected._

Laying in a makeshift bed, my breath is shaky. I can feel the tears fall from the corner of my eyes. I shut them hard, remembering that crazy idea about warriors…

"Warriors do not cry", I whisper to myself. But I'm not a warrior anymore. I'm a messenger of peace. A soft bitter laugh escapes my lips. My fists ball and my teeth clench hard.

I wonder then, why it is that I still feel a welcomed sensation, my guts compresses with the ideas in my head… _ohh if mother could hear them she would be disappointed._ I try to laugh thinking of her shocked expression and rather preoccupied laugh after she realizes I'm joking. But that's not gonna happen. I'm not teasing her, or playing some kind of prank. She is gone and not coming back. As I wipe new tears out of my eyes, I get the crazy idea, as if a need, to use my name, my sword and my wits to march over to Jappa and _kill them all. _I turn my face to hide it. To hide the gleam in my eyes as I think and plan how easy it could be. That's when I feel it. When I begin to uncover the veil.

I never had the time to analyze what happened between my mother and Ares. Gabrielle was so blunt over the subject… or she seemed to be. Now I think she was more afraid of the bastard taking mother away from her. Now that I have more time on my hands… _how long I've been laying here? How many days have passed since Gabrielle's ship set sail? A clue? No._

My attention is now focused on a little spider on the window, but it keeps going back on the same subject – The little bitch - she even took _my _mother's chakram. _Eli please!_ In the back on my mind, I knew, know. _She was her soulmate_. I keep repeating to myself. The rage that had subdued during my sobbing and thoughts of everything she had taken away from me, were back.

She already had her in life and now she takes the only tiny part I could relate to her.

_The blood._ Yes, the blood, I never understood it. I never knew what _he_ saw in me. Taking a 15 year old girl under his wing. How deluded I was. The ironic part, he didn't even see it, he didn't even know. Damn him! I sit straight up, heavy breathing oppressing my chest and then I notice him. I won't kid myself… I can't feel him. That was something only mother could do. I feel myself smiling bitterly with an over tone of sarcasm,_ and then I wonder what he saw in her. _

"Ares" His name falls from my lips even before I turn my head to snarl at him. _This is my time of pea…_ I stop. What in Hades' name! I start thinking, what…

"Livia." I haven't heard his deep, melting voice in more than a year… but the voice is different now. It's more careless than it was and he looks different too. I'm surprised. I always saw him as someone powerful, even at times when I wanted to pierce a sword through his chest. Now he looks like a man who has seen too many winters, a widowed man.

But the hatred, the loss I'm feeling at this moment, is more powerful than the pity. I finally look him to the eye. "My name is Eve". I believe my low voice sounds too much like her because he now had a look of despair. I have a brief thought of the bastard still knowing how to manipulate someone. But somehow I know he isn't.

"Eve", he looks at me with caged rage. I can see it in his eyes, throwing darts at me. Then I see the despair again, and it's clear he doesn't want me to see any of it.

_I look too much like her._

"I guess _she_ didn't tell you either" What starts as angry finishes so quiet that I can only hear what I think he is saying. I see him close his eyes as I move to stand tall in front of him.

_I move like her._

For some reason, I need to stand tall. I began having this feeling after what happened on mount Olympus and coward behind mother. He doesn't seem to care. But my long ago bruised ego still does.

I try to gaze at him in the same way I used to. I remember looking at him first in adoration, then with ambition, finally hating him as everyone else did.

_Everyone but mother. _

No such luck... I have seen those cold eyes, clouded by tears and anxiety and despair of having killed her, even if he hadn't.

When I think of the looks she gave him. They weren't always cold. Were not pitiful nor loving either. She _saw_ him, in the same way I believe _he_ saw her. I remember he didn't want to touch me after he knew who I was. He felt dirty. Not because of me, because of her.

_Always for her. _

_Always connected to her. _

I always thought, during my long journeys, that it was his curse. Maybe hers. _What am I thinking? _After all that had happened, after the twilight of the Gods and his rough and tumble with mortality, my only thought is that his curse kept him alive. Gave him life after all.

"She didn't." I say in a whisper. His short poisoned laugh, pained laugh; staltes me, takes me from my thoughts. I answer quickly, noticing the short dagger in his hand. I don't fear him, I never have and I know for certain he wouldn't be capable of hurting me. Not me while I bear the eyes I was born with. "No."

He circles me; he is more confident now. Again, there is rage in his voice "Where is the bard?," he finally asks lifting my chin with his armed hand.

_Always with an agenda. I had to laugh at the irony_.

When did I look down? I start trembling, but not out of fear. I lift my eyes to meet his. He looks so devastated, even more than when he arrived. I feel for him now. I see the desolation now, mirroring my own. The dagger in his hand falls with a dry knock as it hits the floor. I take his hand and he backs off from me. "Where is Gabrielle?" his voice quivers this time.

"She is not here", I say still distrustful and smirking at him.

"Don't tempt me, Eve." Not even a second later I feel all of his strength grabbing my shoulders, pushing me over the wall.

I laugh. _Come on, do it. That's why you came here. _I start thinking that maybe he could do it, yeah he could do it – _kill them all_, maybe I could drop the veil, maybe I could drive him in the right direction. He sees me laughing and his grip on my shoulders lessens. "That's why you're looking for her." I say in that low voice looking outside with my head pinned against the wall. He probably thinks I've gone insane already, but he knows I'm also probably seeing him as the monster all believe he was.

_All but her. _

They were connected, not even Gabrielle could deny him that. He releases me. I wonder how many times he had held mother like this. For him, and I can swear that for her as well, it was foreplay most of the time. To see who was on top and who would quiver and conquered.

_They were connected, and no one can deny him that._

The immediate thought of him knowing her more than I did; sharing anger, understanding, some kind of mutual respect for what each of them were, shared time - makes my blood boil. Our eyes simultaneously lock on the blade on the floor but before I can make a move, he quickly grabs my hand although his grip is not hard this time. Yet I don't have the heart to pull away after seeing the pain in this eyes and his shaking shoulders. The same vulnerability I saw long ago in that icy pond, "Why?" he pleads.

Gabrielle said redemption, 40,000 souls, the greater good… and all that shit. That's not enough for all she left behind.

He looks at me, shaking this head, this time laughing like a crazy man. I just stand there, in the shadow with him. He is not crazy I say to myself, he is grieving.

I venture out to touch his shoulder with my hand. This time he doesn't pull away. This time, he lifts his head to meet my eyes. His eyes tear up and I remember this god once wanted to be my father, even if, under a veil of self-interest and reptile intentions – he still wanted to.

I cant help but think that he is not all bad and evil. Maybe my mother saw it too.

I know she did.

I hope he knows.

He sits against the wall and I sit with him. "She once told me, I had a chance". I don't know if he is reading my thoughts, I don't believe he is but I nod. I don't know why, but I nod to him. Understanding him, finally.

_He knows. _

After a long silence, in his hand appears a wineskin, I see him take a couple of swigs, and stretches a hand in my direction afterwards. _Why not?_ I take it and drink with him. I wipe my lips with the back of my hand and hand the skin back to him. Another long silence. "She went south.", my breath is hard, "To the pharaoh lands.". I watch him nod in appreciation. I really don't think he is going after her to kill her. There was always bad blood between them, he had many chances to kill the bard, but... no, I don't think he's going there with that propose. However, I need to know. "What do you want with her?" I ask while he gets up from the dirt.

"Just what is rightfully mine." A devilish grin is the last I see of him. Maybe it was a moment. But it happened. I was connected to him. I had to smile, laugh at the irony.


End file.
